Christmas

Merry Christmas, everybody. This season, I've got a lot to be thankful for. I think the top two on my list are my personal growth and my friends. It's some good stuff. Now I want to celebrate this occasion by wishing the Lakers luck in their game today and sharing some wise words from Isaiah's blog:

"I was sitting in the train on my way back from rome.
Yeah, i went to rome. It was the host family i'm living with and the neighbors to our left.
They are a family of three, one daughter, who i think is 13 years old.
the kids were seated together. so my two host brothers and the girl. Madalena or however it's spelled.
The younger brother is in class with her. so as they were doing their homework, i looked at her planner, or diario in italian. i looked in the back and there were stickers.
i dont even remember the last sticker i got, just kidding.
The last time i got a sticker was when i donated blood at the school blood drive last year.
It was my first blood donation, and not my last. I almost fainted.
But anyway, the sticker made me feel so much better. it said "I did it"
I took about 30 of them.
Stickers make people feel good. sometimes people just want to show off and are always showing people the new happy face sticker on their right hand. but for me, stickers aren't to show off. just for my pleasure, especially when i come across those scratch and sniff ones. you can never go wrong with those unless they make black licorice or black jelly bean scented ones.
but as you know, stickers arent forever. eventually they will loose their sticky adhesive, unless you decide to put it on a paper that you scored well on.
as far as i see it, many things are stickers.
Being in italy, i've seen so much beautiful art, architecture, and food.
I've never seen thing so beautiful in my life living in southern california.
being at the beach brings a sense of serenity, but i would much rather stare at the painted ceilings and carved marble statues endlessly dressing the walls of the churches.
But the second time around, it's like that sticker that you've lifted off to relocate it, but there's that one corner of the star that doesnt quite stick.
so what's the solution to having a sticker on forever. to have those butterflies flying in your stomach forever. maybe to show off, or maybe just to graze in the grasses of happiness.
yes, you are right. get a tattoo. tattoo's that i've seen all have dragons and chinese symbols, or flames. so cliché. i personally at this moment would not get a tattoo. because a 100 pack of stickers might give me the same amount of happiness without the pain, or a thread of regret.
so essentially tattoo's arent the solution. they hurt, are permanent (more or less), and will cost more than stickers. and if you want another tattoo in the same place. good luck.
so with one sticker comes an addiction.
maybe you'd want something bigger
a different animal
a different color
more shiny
or
"i did it again"
maybe we're just seeking for some kind of acknowledgement whether it comes from yourself or from another. maybe it's not the sticker that we come to appreciate, but the meaning behind the sticker. the "yippee" feeling that's granted through the sticker's sticky adhesive.
fundamentally like a nicotine patch.
but i've come to the conclusion.
sticker's wont always be there. in my situation, the people, the art, the beauty in general will shortly be far out of my reach, actually out of sight.
so is a boy supposed to do?
i've decided to use tape. because tape never really runs out, you can always buy more tape
i have never heard of a piece of tape that has sentimental value.
so use tape until it runs out.
which in my situation my role of tape is time.
i'm on a mission to wear all the stickers i can find.
spend time with the friends i'll be far from sight by february
and avoid those who smell like black licorice and jelly beans
unlike tattoos, you always have a choice of wearing the sticker.
so cast away those that stink, and use tape to make the scented stickers last as long as they can.
damnit. the little brother came in and started whining so i lost my train of concentration.
i ran out of coal."